In a century of horrific war, there were glimpses of hope in the midst of the madness. The Christmas truce agreed upon by front-line combatants in World War 1 is one of the great stories. It has since been made into a movie as noted below, "Joyeux Noelle". This first video has a song performed by Colin Raye honoring the event. The second video is a brief history of the story of the truce.
There were several reasons this occurred including the deeply embedded Christmas traditions of both Germany and England. Another was the impact the Christmas story had on the reformed churches which were in essence the national churches of both countries. Yet another reason was one last awakening of common sense swept across the lines, something that would abandon both armies in the ensuing years. In any case, a great Christmas story.
There were several reasons this occurred including the deeply embedded Christmas traditions of both Germany and England. Another was the impact the Christmas story had on the reformed churches which were in essence the national churches of both countries. Yet another reason was one last awakening of common sense swept across the lines, something that would abandon both armies in the ensuing years. In any case, a great Christmas story.
I love this story. In World War I, German, French, English & Scottish soldiers laid down their weapons in an unofficial cease fire to celebrate Christmas Eve together... they exchanged gifts and saw each other as brothers and that peace lasted for two more days. They even prayed together and played soccer. This is one of the greatest miracles and showed that all men, no matter their creed, culture or political view, wants the same thing: PEACE!!
When I listened to this song by Collin Ray, back in 1996, I couldn't believe that there wasn't a movie about it yet, but finally someone made one and it's called JOYEUX NOELLE. It's really beautiful and one of the best movies I've ever seen so I included some pics from that movie in the video.
"If it could happen then, it could happen again..."
